Safety razor



P. H OBE R G SAFETY RAZOR April 3, 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet .1

Filed oct. 9, 1947 JNVENTOR. PAUL HDBEIRG BY & AffU/F Vfi') April 3, 1951 P. HOBERG SAFETY RAZOR Filed Oct. 9, 1947 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. PAUL HUBERB Patented Apr. 3, 19 51 UNITED STATES RATENT OFFICE' SAFETY RAZOR Paul Hoberg, Brooklyn, N. Y. Application October 9, 1947, Serial No. 778,818 4 Claims. (01. 30-60) This invention relates to new and useful improvements in hoe-type safety razors having divergable guard members.

An object of the invention is to provide a relatively simple and inexpensive yet highly dependable guard means of the type indicated, and one wherein the guard members may be operated in an improved manner. According to the invention, the two guard members may be readily m'oved to lie in close parallelism vertically above the head of the razor, or to become more or less diverged above such head, or to be swung away from one another and down on the head, for different useful purposes, solely as the result of rotating a part carried by the handle, such part preferably at the lower end of the handle.

Another object is to avoid such cumbersome and bulky structures as pivotal means of the sleeve-and-pintle or slot-and-pintle type, worm and worm-gear couples, and articulated linkages.

A further object of the invention is to provide a mechanism for changing the setting of the guard members which will occupy very little space and have very little weight, thereby to keep the head of small thickness and to hold the bandle all along its length to the dimensions usual in a hoe-type" razor.

A feature of the invention is a guard means carried by the razor head and comprising a pair of guard members having oppositely arcuately curled bottom portions fitted into journalling means constituted by arcuately curved slots, the radius of curvature of which is the same as that of said curled bottom portions of the guard members; whereby said curled guard portions are movable in said slots, by actually a slidingmotion, to swing the guard members into close parallelism vertically above the razor head, or the guard members away from one another and down on the head.

Also, in combination with the feature just sum marized, and with the aforesaid rotatable part carried by the handle, this for forcing the guard members to either of the settings just mentioned, spring means are provided for urging the guard members to the other of said settings.

For further comprehension of the invention, and of the objects and advantages thereof, reference will be had to the following description and accompanying drawing, and to the appended claims in which the various novel features of the invention are more particularly set forth.

- In the accompanying drawing forming a maerial part of this disclosure: I..Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodito swing 2 ment of the invention as now favored, looking down on the top of the razor.

Fig. 2 is a bottom plan view of the razor.

Fig. 3 is an end elevation, with the guardmembers in blade-holding position, as for shaving.

Fig. 4 is a similar view, but showing the guard members raised to divergence upwardly.

Fig. 5 is also aview similar to Fig. 3, but showing said guard members vertically upstanding.

Fig. 6 is a perspective view, showing an operating part of the handle, removed therefrom.

Fig. 7 is a top plan view of the razor head.

Fig. 8 is a transverse section, taken on the line 8- 8 of Fig. 7.

Fig. 9 is a side elevation, with the parts arranged as in Fig. 5, but with only the upper portion of the handle being shown.

Fig. 10 is a bottom plan view of the sub-assembly for journalling the guard members, and for imparting spring thrusts thereto for urging them to the setting shown in Figs. 5 and 9, such subassembly being viewed as though pursuant to the section line iii-I0 of Fig. 9.

Fig. 11 is a top plan view of said sub-assembly.

Fig. 12 is an and elevation of said sub-assembly, looking toward the left in Fig. 11.

Fig. 13 shows in referred to.

Fig. 14 similarly shows the other journal block.

Fig. 15 is an end elevation of the block of Fig. 13, looking in the direction of the arrow !5 in Fig. 13.

Fig. 16 is a plan view wafer razor blade, which of the present invention.

Referring to the drawings more in detail, the embodiment illustrated is shown as comprising a handle 29, a head 2!, and a guard incorporating a pair of swingably mounted guard members 22 and 23.

The top of the handle 28 fixedly carries a rectangular plate 2 3 which extends transversely to the head 2| and is secured thereto by a pair of screws 25 sent into tapped holes 26 in the head.

The guard members 22 and 23, which are thin and uniplanar, are swingably mounted in journal blocks 21 and 28 by way of two substantially semi-circular and truly arcuate elements each of which is formed integral with its guard member as a bottom continuation thereof in the shape of a curl. These arcuate elements or curls of the guard members 22 and 23 are marked, respectively, 29 and 30.

The two structures 2229 and, 23-30 are perspective the block above of a standard type of may be used in the razor alike, except for the addition to the guard mem- 3. her 23 of a small projection 22*, which is fixed in aposition axially of a knurled cup-thimble and has internal thread 52 matching an external thread 53 on a lower handle portion of reduced diameter.

The slot 43 in the head 2| is enlarged midway along its length, at 54, to allow protrusion through such enlargement of the rounded upper end of the rod 50 when the rod is spirally upwardly fully advanced in the handle 23, by turning the thimble 5|.

As already explained, the springs 35 and 33 normally urge the guard members 22 and 23 to upstand from the head 2| as in Fig. 5; and then the rounded'top of the rod 53 is at approximately the level indicated in dotted lines in this view, and a standard wafer razor blade 55 may be placed on the head by passing the guard members through the conventional longitudinally extended slot 55 in the blade.

On now turning the thimble 5| to move the rod 50 spirally upward in the handle, the rounded top of said rod engages the curls 23 and 30 of the guard members at the edge portions of such curls indicated at 53 and 51 in Fig. 10, and, as such turning of the thimble proceeds, the guard members are swung away from their setting as in Fig. 5 to and through their setting as shown in Fig. 4, and, as such thimble turning further proceeds, the guard members are more and more diverged until they finallv are clamped down on the head 2| as shown in Fig. 3, with the blade 55 properly in place as shown in Figs. 1 and 3 and with the rounded head of said rod located as there shown.

The pur ose of the proection 22 on the guard member 23 is to bear against the blade 55 at its slot 55 for as isting in proper setting of the blade on the head 2|.

To wash and dry the blade, without having to remove it to be referred to later, but are reversely arranged, as shown best in Figs. and 11, in the guard-members journalling sub-assembly including the blocks 2! and 28, so that eye-carrying formations 3| and 32, carrying looped-strip shackles 33 and 34 receiving the free ends of wire springs 35 and 35, are oppositely offset from the midpoint along the lengths of the guards 22 and 23.

The blocks 21 and 28 are also alike, but reversely arranged as shown in Figs. 11, 13 and 14. Each block has a pair of s ots substantially semicircular in extent and tr ly arcua e, and to the same radius as the curls 29 and 33 of the guard members 22 and 23. Said slots of the block 21 are marked 3! and 3B. and said slots of the block 28 are marked 39 and 43.

The springs 35 and 35 are also alike, but reversely arranged as shown; each such spring including a long free length engaging one of the shackles 33 and 34, a doubly coiled intermediate portion. and an anchoring stem sent into an aperture at a side of a block 21 or 28. Such aperture in the block 2 is shown at 4| in Fig. 14, and in the block 28 at 42 in Fig. 15.

The sub-assembly comprised of the parts 22-42 was set up, after entering the stems of the springs 35 and 35 into the a ertures 4| and 42 of the blocks 21 and 28, simply by first forcing said blocks at their arcuate slots partially onto the ends of the curls 29 and 3%) of the guard members 22 and 23 while entering the free ends of the long free lengths of the springs 35 and 38 into the shackles 33 and 34, and then forcing said blocks further together to .fully enter the 4 curls 29 and 30 into the arcuate slots in the blocks.

The action of the springs and 36 is such that the guard members 22 and 23 are urged to the setting shown in Figs. 5 and 10-12.

Before the handle plate 24 is secured to the head 2| by the screws 25, said sub-assembly is mounted in the head from below the same, by first sending the guard members 22 and 23 upward into and through a slot 43 extended longitudinally of the head, and then sending the two blocks 2'! and 28 upward and into cut-outs 44 at the ends of said slot.

The dimensions of the parts are such that when the tops of the blocks are flush with the top of the head at the region of said cut-outs, the underside of the head is abutted by the free ends of the curls 29 and 30; which curls, along their portions extended between the blocks, are less prolonged in the directions of curvature of the curls than the end portions of said curls in the arcuate slots in the blocks.

When the tops of the blocks 21 and 28 are flus with the top of the head 2|, aligned apertures in a pair of end flanges 45 dependent from the head 2|, one such aperture shown at 45 in Fig. 8, line up with tapped holes at the outer side of the blocks 21 and 28, one such hole, that in the block 21, being shown at 4'! in Figs. 12 and 14; so that two screws 48 may be applied to lock the subassembly on the head.

The curls 28 and 30 are also shaped so that each at the midpoint along its length has a rounded cut-out 49. These cut-outs are such that when the guard members are set as in Figs.

10-12 said cut-outs are disposed as there shown, but when the guard members are set as in Fig. 3 said cut-outs become spatially adjacent to. combine to establish an elliptical opening as seen. in Fig. l.

The handle 20 is tubular throughout its length, the top of the opening therethrough matching an aperture through the plate 24. Extended up into the hollow interior of the handle is a rod 50 having a rounded upper end. The bottom of said rod being wholly from the head, the thimble 5| is turned in the reverse direction, thereby to lower I the rod 53 to the extent indicated in 4 to set the guard members 22 and 23 as there shown. To remove the blade, as for substitution of a new one, th thimble is further turned, to lower the rod as indicated in Fig. 5, and to allow spring return of the guard members to the setting there shown.

While I hav illustrated and described the preferred embodiments of my invention, it is to be understood that I do not limit myself to the pre cise constructions herein disclosed and the right is reserved to all changes and modifications coming within the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by United States Letters Patent is:

1. A razor comprising a head, a handle ofiset therefrom, guard means for clamping a razor blade between said means and the head, said guard means comprising a pair of guard members having oppositely arcuately curled bottom portions, mounting means for said curled portions carried by the head and having arcuately curved slots of the same radius of curvature as that of said curled portions, whereby along said slots in their directions of curvilinear extension said curled portions are slidablefor swinging the guard members into close parallelism while extended vertically above the head and for swinging said guard members away from each other and down on the head in clamping relation to such blade,

said handle being hollow, a rod in the handle threadedly connected thereto whereby turning of the rod spirally advances the same lengthwise of the handle, the top of th rod being rounded, parts of said curled portions of the guard members being located for interception by the rounded top of the handle when the latter is moved upward, said parts being so shaped and arranged that such interception imparts thrusts to said curled portions to swing said guard members down on the head, and a pair of wire-like springs each having a pair of arms connected to said guard members and mounting means for urging said guard members upward away from said head and toward each other.

2. A razor comprising a head, a handle offset therefrom, guard means for clamping a razor blade between said means and the head, said guard means comprising a pair of guard members having oppositely arcuately curled bottom portions, blocks for said curled portions carried by the head and having arcuately curved slots of the same radius of curvature as that of said curled portions, whereby along said slots in their directions of curvilinear extension said curled portions are slidable for swinging the guard mem- 3O bers into close parallelism while extended vertically above the head and for swinging said guard members away from each other and down on the head in clamping relation to such blade, said handle bein hollow, a rod in the handle threadedly connected thereto whereby turning of the rod spirally advances the same lengthwise of the handle, the top of the rod being rounded, parts of said curled portions of the guard members being located for interception by the rounded top of the handle when the latter is moved upward, said parts being so shaped and arranged that such interception imparts thrusts to said curled portions to swing said guard members down on away from each other and down on the head in clamping relation to such blade, said handle being hollow, a rod in the handle threadedly connected thereto whereby turning of the rod spirally advances the same lengthwise of the handle, the top of the rod being rounded, parts of said curled portions of the guard members being located for interception by th rounded top of the handle when the latter is moved upward, said parts being so shaped and arranged that such interception imparts thrusts to said curled portions to swing said guard members down on the head, spring means for urging said guard members to swing upward away from the head and toward each other, said spring means comprising a pair of like wire springs each having a coiled portion intermediate its length, each of said springs having a longer arm connected to the curled portion of a dilTerent one of the guard members, a shorter arm or stem set into a difierent one of said blocks, said guard members, blocks and springs being shaped to interfit whereby they may be set up as a complete sub-assembly before securing the upper portions of the blocks in said openings in the head.

4. In a razor having a head and a tubular handle offset therefrom, guard means for clamping a razor blade against the head, comprising a pair of parallel guard members formed along their adjacent edges with curled portions, blocks mounted on the ends of the head and formed with aligned pairs of curled recesses engaged by said curled portions so that said guard members can be swung to positions extended vertically above the head close to one another or down on the head into clamping relation to the blade, a rod extended through the handle and having threaded connection therewith for advancing or retracting said rod with relation to the handle and said guard members as it is turned in one direction or the other, said rod being formed with a rounded top end which engages said curled portions when said rod is turned to be extended for moving said guard members down into clampt head, spring means f r urging Said guard ing relation to the blade, and springs each having members to swing upward away from the head an intermediate coiled portion and one end atand toward each other, Said spring means tached to one of said curled portions and its other prising a pair of ire pring each having a end attached to one Of said blocks to exert a force coiled portion intermediate its length, each of to Swing Said guard members o the positions exsaid springs having a longer arm connected to tendedyertically abOVe he head. When said rod is the curled portion of a different one of the guard moved In a direction to be t ac ed. members, and 'a shorter arm or stem set into a diiierent one of said blocks.

3. A razor comprising a head, a handle ofiset therefrom, guard means for clamping a razor blade between said means and the head, said guard means comprising a pair of guard members having oppositely arcuately curled bottom portions, blocks for said curled portions carried by PAUL HOBERG.

' REFERENCES CITED UNITED STATES PATENTS the head and having arcuately curved slots of the Number ame Date same radius of curvature as that of said curled 2,004,086 Testi June 4, 1935 portions, whereby along said slots in their direc- 43,2 6 Martin Jan. 10, 1939 tions of curvilinear extension said curled portions are slidable for swinging the guard members into FOREIGN PATENTS close parallelism while extended vertically above Number Country Date the head and for swinging said guard members 545,789 Great Britain June 12, 1942 

